Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy: ‘We Just Feel Blessed That in One Lifetime We Could Create a Good Body Of Work’

Netflix’s upcoming film The Archies recently launched its soundtrack album after the release of the singles “Sunoh,” “Va Va Voom” and “In Raahon Mein.” The 16-track record features the talents of music maestros Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy as well as artists Ankur Tewari, Tejas, Dot., lyricist Javed Akhtar and more.

We caught up with Shankar Mahadevan, Ehsaan Noorani and Loy Mendonsa of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy (who have composed six songs for the film) to talk about the making of the record, who their favorite Archies character is, what their takeaways from the film are and more.

When it comes to the recording and production process for a project like this, how do you tackle it and do you already have in mind what you envision from it?

Noorani: We jam like we normally jam with maybe a drum loop. We came up with all the basic licks, the basic riffs and the melodies, and then went into the studio to do all the live stuff.

Mendonsa: The basic band is always guitar, bass, drums and piano or organ.

From the six songs you’ve composed, what can you tell me about the songs and what they are about as well as the sonic imprints that they carry?

Noorani: They have a very strong sonic imprint of the time, 64’. Very straightforward guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, organ or piano and there’s ‘Va Va Voom,’ ‘Everything Is Politics’ that’s like a conversation kind of song which is done very musically, like a musical. Even in the visual, in the singing and again very 60s. There’s a third song called ‘Plum Pudding,’ which is really one of our favorite songs. It’s a simple tune, just piano, guitar and drums. A very, very catchy song. There’s also ‘Dishoom Dishoom,’ that’s a beautiful song because of the way it’s been shot and choreographed.

Mahadevan: Basically, it’s got one thread, the music is one thread that binds it, but each one is different from the other.

Coming to “Va Va Voom,” you’ve got Tejas singing in Hindi for the first time and Javed Akhtar contributed lyrics to it, what was it like working with Tejas?

Noorani: He was fantastic, very good and very easy to work with.

Mendonsa: He was a little nervous because Shankar was supervising him.

Mahadevan: It was a little out of his territory, but that’s what we wanted because the kids are Anglo-Indian in the film. So that little stress about singing in Hindi, that really helps in getting the character out. He worked really hard on the language. It had to be true to his character, at the same time it shouldn’t be anglicized for the sake of it being anglicized, the Hindi should be correct, but at the same time you know that he is from that style of speaking and living, the Anglo Indian 1960s family. So, he got that correctly because he’s naturally like that.

I’m sure of course you are all familiar with the Archies. Do you have any favorite characters?

Noorani: Jughead [laughs]. I think all three of us love Jughead.

Mahadevan: I like Big Ethel also [laughs].

Do you go back to listen to ‘Sugar Sugar’ and the Archies band? 

Noorani: Yeah, that’s a song we’ve grown up listening to. There used to be a program that came out on Saturdays called Saturday Date and one of the songs that always played was ‘Sugar Sugar’ [laughs].
 

You have probably already seen the upcoming Zoya Akhtar film The Archies before it’s out, what are your takeaways from it?

Noorani: Really lovely film to watch.

Mendonsa: Also, I must say she captures the whole vibe of an era that happened in India. It’s not alien. A lot of people might say but that that’s not possible, it could not happen, but if hip-hop is happening in India right now that bloody well could have happened that time. And it did happen.

Mahadevan: If anybody could capture the essence of a difficult time, difficult genre, difficult era, it can be Zoya Akhtar, nobody else.  

Ankur Tewari has also been heavily involved with this project, what was it like working with him?

Mahadevan: It was lovely collaborating with him. He really helped us put things together. See a project like this you need a lot of sourced music, a lot of new singers, young kids, new bands to listen to, and he was a great help. He and I used to write dummy lyrics before Javid sir comes into the room to present it to, to just to feel the energy and it was just a lovely vibe working with Ankur. I mean, it was a very comforting feeling to have. Otherwise, we would have been quite uncomfortable having another person in the studio. But having Ankur was always a joy.

Any closing notes?

Noorani: It’s just a lot of fun, the entire album. It’s great music and I really like this album. We love it.

Mahadevan: We just feel blessed that in one lifetime we could create a good body of work.